Hi guys, just looking for some advice. I got my first mx5, a mk3, last year and been pretty happy with the handling up until recently. Did the NC500 at the end of May with some friends and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. After that trip the car was due an mot and required a new tyre on the back. The other rear tyre was close to the limit so I put 2 new Toyo proxes cf2s on the back end. Since then the car has felt a bit twitchy which has made for some interesting cornering. The front tyres are Barum Bravuris (anyone heard of them?) which have a fair bit of wear on them. They will be getting replaced next week with another pair of Toyos so that the tyres will be matched. I'm hoping that this will aleviate some of the twitchyness. I'm also interested in getting the wheel alignment set up correctly. I know that a local garage in Grantown has laser alignment equipment but is there any tweaks or specific settings I should be looking for them to apply to the car? As well as feeling a bit twitchy I'm finding that the front wheels seem to have a mind of their own at times, following all sorts of undulations, ripples and different surfaces. Do you think this is due to the mismatched tyres or wheel setting/alignment?

MX5s are very sensitive to tyre choice it would seem. Do a wee search on here and you'll see the extent of the previous discussions. In a nutshell; some people swear by Proxies, other swear at them. If all you've done is change the rear tyres and you now have twitchy handling...I've heard stories saying the Toyos are a little unpredictable at or near the limit. I have used Toyos in the past, but hear more bad about them than good these days.

The fronts sound a little budget to me (I'm no tyre spotter) but certainly most people will agree that mixing tyres front/rear is generally not recommended.

I have used Toyo Proxys, Yokahama's and Khumo tyres on various models over past 20 + years and all have there own good / bad points !! either good or bad in the wet, some better than others !My preference for last few years have been the Khumo's and i find them good in all weathers, hard wearing and after some " spirited " runs with other Mx5 Taysider's they can vouch that they are rather good.But, always a but, it will be up to you what you wish to fit and use and only after that is done will you find out if the are good enough for your own level of driving !!

Interesting. My Mk1 came with Kumhos and I hated them. Very tail-happy on damp roundabouts. On the other hand, I liked the Bridgestones that the Mk3.5 came with and also the Toyos which replaced the Bridgestones. Each to their own.

Your issue may well (partly) be a need of an expert 4 wheel setting-up. Pity your not further south as ProGrip in Falkirk have been doing them for years and store various settings to taste on their Hunter computer. Don't know how far anyone else goes, but W.I.M ( Wheels in Motion) down south might help by sending you some.

Khumo made horrid ditch-finders right up there with the dreaded P6000..widow makers on a Mk1 but perfect fine on a family car.Our Sport came with a set when we bought it ten years back, and I had them off & sold on in two weeks...for Toyos. They were like driving on oiled ball bearings in the wet but they taught my wife how to opposite lock on the way to school kinda pronto!They also did and still do supply Gorilla Glue level stickies if you don't mind the price or just 10k out the rears.

Toyo had to move production facilities following the great tsunami, and franchised a lot of production to China on a so called "temporary" basis.Some wags have it the compound was cheapened, but I think new generation rubber has put them in the shade.How CFs faired I do not know, but Proxies are no longer the superglue default choice they were years back and in any case have been superceded by Khumos & Rainsports etc. Things just evolve and move on.

I put a full set of NickD's recommended Khumos, complete with the new RotaGT alloys on our newly refurbed 2002 Sport just to finish it off for once.They are ruddy epic.Great mechanical grip, dont howl in protest and what I like best is they don't snap-oversteer in extremis in the wet, but send a "polite message" ...as if I need one after 10 years of driving it! Bit more road noise though for sure.As said, lots of opinions & preferences involved.No real wrong or right answer but the Khumo choice for me was cemented by a Toyo Proxie/Khumo back to back filmed track session by NickD of MOT Motorsport whose business it is to fit.....tyres....! with no business preferences.

There is always an imbecile you never bargained for. Usually in a Tescon carpark with a dented Zafira minus hubcaps